


What Happened: The Competition

by KBLEAGHS



Category: KBLE, KBLEHS, Six of Crows - Fandom, The Cruel Prince, soc, tfota - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Assassin - Freeform, Assassin AU, Blood, Character Death, Fighting, Magic, Magic AU, Magic School, OC, Own Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:54:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27592331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KBLEAGHS/pseuds/KBLEAGHS
Summary: This fic is set two years prior to most of the happenings in this AU. This takes place when the seniors sophomores, the juniors are freshmen. This is why there is a main rivalry.





	What Happened: The Competition

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warnings: Angst (what else do you expect) & mentions of blood and death.
> 
> Writers - Artemis and Zephyrine
> 
> Tumblr Link - https://kble-hs.tumblr.com/post/634962480237625344/what-happened-the-competition-word-count-3800

These competitions were meant to be fun. These competitions were meant to showcase everyone’s skills. These competitions were meant to bring everyone together, not tear them apart. That is what everyone thought before this competition. This competition wasn’t even the main one at the end of the year, it was just supposed to be an October half-term special. The schools always had a friendly rivalry, at one point the head-teachers even were friends. But one day something changed between the two, the girls didn’t know what exactly, but there was a different feeling in the air that day. 

The students were waiting outside of the PE centre as they teachers were doing their rounds of inspections. Earlier that week, the younger years fought, some using their powers for the first time against real opponents, but today was the grand finale. The deputies and heads of school, going against each other. Even though the students were voted in, typically the strongest, smartest, and most capable held those positions. Their fights were always something to behold, and the winner was allowed to have first choice of agency when they graduated. 

It was currently the lunch break after the deputy fights, which the KBLE student won. They decided on using their powers, the KBLE student a powerful dark magic user against the FSoD student, who had to use their water magic. It was very clear that the KBLE deputy was much stronger, even in the day, but the match was still enjoyable. It provided a great warm up for the Head fight. 

KBLE was hopeful this year, their Head Girl Daenia was one of the strongest students they had in a long time. She was an all-round student with weaponry and fighting style, her fire power allowed for short- and long-range attacks. Daenia was also a very kind individual, taking the time to talk to the younger years, help them when they needed training practice, and just was just like a cool summer breeze. Everyone loved her, but also feared her power at the same time. No one in the school could match her skills on the mat. All of the younger girls bore an admiration for her - especially the freshmen. The KBLE students didn’t know much about the FSoD school Head Boy but knew that he was a force to be reckoned with. The students of FSoD did talk highly of him though, so that had to count for something.

The freshmen were pushing their way through the crowd, to get closer to the front of the group walking to the PE centre, they wanted to see Daenia beat Benedict to a pulp. They weren’t quiet about it either, Lilith was shouting excitedly about Daenia and her power, “she can punch a man twice faster than I can say chicken nuggets!”

“You may want to keep that to yourself when you get into the stadium,” a senior cautioned, but there was a tinkle in their eyes. “Even if it is true.” 

So of course, the four freshmen were present, bundled up against the chill of the autumn weather. They walked with their older schoolmates, chattering excitedly about the fights and playfully hedging bets. 

As they approached the PE Centre, the crowd was a mix of KBLE and FSoD students. Just because the head teachers’ friendship had turned sour didn’t mean the same for their pupils. The PE centre hadn’t opened yet, but the group stayed near the entrance. They found a small cleared area, sitting down to watch people. Emma unzipped her jacket, pulling out her kitten that she had once again brought with her while Lilith, Zeph, and Theodosia opened their bags to pull out the bunch of snacks they had brought. They made small talk as they waited for the competition to start - talking about one book or another. They noticed Artemis and Scarlet walking and chatting with two boys from the other school and Eliana in an argument with another girl. They waved to Selene, Iris and Eris as they passed by. With the competition about to start, everyone was getting more and more excited - the girls, especially. They had no doubt that KBLE was going to crush FSoD. As usual. 

“Daenia is so going to win,” Theodosia said, with a murderous smile on her face.

“I heard she’s going against Benedict; I’ve heard through the grapevine that he isn’t that good.” Zephyrine said, practically bouncing on her toes with excitement. She heard a soft snort from behind her and she whirled around, a glare on her face already. Oh. Edmund. The glare dropped, but she still looked a little annoyed - and flustered. “What?”

Edmund chuckled, his laugh was beautiful and Zeph hated what it did to her, the way that the laugh made her feel. “Are you really sure that Benedict is going to win?” 

“Yes. Wanna bet on it?”

Emma and Lilith raised an eyebrow, with Theodorisa watching the pair like a tennis match, throwing retorts at each other. It was hard for Emma to not notice the red blush on each of the two’s cheeks, but knowing Zephyrine, she would say it was because of the slight chill in the air. “Interesting.”

“What is?” Zephyrine and Edmund said at the same time, looking at Emma.

“Oh nothing.”

Edmund’s eyes scrunched together and gave an awkward smile, “I guess I shall be going then. I’ll find you after Zeph, I do need to make sure I get my money for winning.” 

“Not if I win.” She shouted back as he walked away, stuffing his hands into his pockets. 

None of the girls said a word to each other as Zephyrine returned to her lunch, but she couldn’t help but feel her friends stare at her. She wanted to say something, but the match horn sounded, meaning that the gates were about to open. They quickly packed away their things and rushed to the open gates, pushing their way through the crowd. 

The inside of the PE centre had drastically changed and looked like a stadium, even the roof was completely open, allowing the sunlight through. The walls were decorated with stands for the viewers, all looking into the middle where there was a tarmac flooring with white lines, showing where the parameters of the fight were. The teachers had their own stands and it was clear of the bias between the schools. The KBLE teachers dressed in their school colours, and even had flags with the school logos on. It felt very much like an intense sporting match. 

The three freshmen girls managed to find seats near the front of the stands with other excited students, who managed to grab food from the stalls at the main gates. As the girls sat down, Zephyrine’s eyes caught Edmunds, and he gave a small wave that she reciprocated back. Emma and Lilith laughed, causing Zeph to whack them, but she couldn’t help but feel the butterflies in her chest at the exchange. 

—0—

The sophomores moved into the PE centre, chatting frantically with each other, their laughs filling the air. They walked in with some of the friends that they had made from the opposite school, discussing the event and who they thought was going to win. They walked up the steps of the stand, passing the freshmen, to their seats. 

The KBLE students sat behind their rivals, but Eliana was surprised to see Lyra not sit with them. She said her goodbyes and continued up the steps. What surprised Eliana the most, however, was the tightness in her chest as she watched her semi-rival, semi-friend, walk off to her other friends. 

Eliana and the rest of her friends sat down, talking about the last couple of days, when they noticed that Artemis was missing. No one knew where she had gone or what she was doing, but it was unlike her to be late for something.

“Finn?” Iris asked, as the muscular boy sat down in front of her. He turned around, his eyes on her. It was easy to see what Artemis saw in this boy from his kind, almost puppy dog, face. “Where’s Artemis? She would never miss something like this.”

He shook his head, “I think the bathroom. She said she had some errands to run before the match.”

The girls didn’t question him further, as the overhead lights had turned off and the roof started to close. The energy in the crowd was astonishing, as the people started cheering and stomping as the two competitors walked out, next to their headmasters. The Headmaster of KBLE, Gandalf, an old man with powerful magic, patted Daenia on the shoulder and walked to where the rest of the teachers sat. The look on Daenia’s face was hard to read, ever so stoic. 

“Benedict as you scored the higher mark in the competitions this week,” Professor Wiver said, the Head Teacher of FSoD. He was much younger than Gandalf and looked considerably stronger and just bigger. He looked like a warrior. But what unnerved the sophomore girls the most was the sadistic, proud smile on his face. “You can choose how you and your partner will fight in this battle.” 

There was hesitation from Benedict, but he looked up at Daenia, his face hard, “hand to hand combat.” 

The crowd went quiet. That was a skill typically not something that people chose to show, as the fights tended to get boring quickly. Daenia’s brows furrowed but nodded her head, walking towards her podium. 

The Sophomores looked between each other, confusion on some of their faces. Eliana couldn’t stop looking at the Headmaster of FSoD, whose face looked very happy for this to have played out. 

“I don’t like this,” Eliana muttered, causing the girls to look at her. “Look at Benedict, something isn’t right about him.” 

His face looked drained, the veins around his neck and eyes looked darker, his eyes looked hollow as if his soul was missing. He looked like a shell. Scarlet nudged her shoulder, a grin on her face, “there isn’t much right about that school and the students. I wouldn’t worry too much.” 

“You know we can hear you right,” Dorian said, with his own charming grin on his face, who sat in front of the girls with some of his friends that the girls were also friends with. 

“You were meant to.” 

Dorian didn’t speak, but his ice blue eyes stayed focused on Scarlet, who couldn’t help but smirk at her red cheeks. 

“Sorry, sorry, excuse me, sorry,” the girls heard as they saw Artemis working her way through the stands, trying to get to her seat. She sat down between Selene and Eris who shook their heads at Artemis’ lateness, which wasn’t a common thing. “What did I miss?” 

“Benedict chose hand to hand combat,” Eris said to her fighting partner. 

“Oh, well this is going to be boring then,” she replied, opening her backpack and passing sweets and chocolates down the line of girls “I had to quickly grab these before Matthias saw and give us another hounding about sweets and the importance of vegetables.” 

Selene hummed, ignoring Artemis’ last comment, taking the packet of smarties, “not necessarily. It shows great intelligence from Benedict. He knows that he wouldn’t be able to handle Daenia’s fire power.”

“What’s his power anyway?” 

The girls shook their heads, not knowing. FSoD wasn’t known for producing powerful magic users, but they excelled at weapon training and hand to hand combat. This was evident in Benedict’s build, which seemed to look like pure muscle under his tight shirt.

“He is a dark magic user,” Finn said, turning around in his chair to face them, his eyes scanning Artemis. 

“Thanks,” she replied with a smile, passing some of the sweets to him and his friends. 

Eris looked between the two and chuckled. They couldn’t be any more obvious unless they announced that they were dating. 

Artemis looked at Eris and tried to suppress her smile, “shut up.” 

Just as Artemis said that, the main lights of the centre dimmed, creating a tunnel light towards Daenia and Benedict. It was likely that all the girls were thinking something very similar, how out of place Daenia looked compared to Benedict. She was physically fit, but like most of the girls, they tended to focus on training their powers. Eris’ leg couldn’t stop tapping the floor, causing the rest of the row to shake. No one stopped her though. They all had their ways of coping with the stress as the fight began. Some bit their nails, twisted their hair, or cracked their knuckles. 

The fight looked brutal, Selene and Scarlet turned their heads away as Benedict landed more punches on Daenia. She looked broken and bruised. It was clear that FSoD fought hard, as they always had done, excelling in physical combat over magic. It was clear that FSoD was winning. Daenia was struggling to land hits on him, even though she was quicker moving around. When Eliana looked around, her breath stuck in her through, she saw the teacher’s faces sharing looks of worry. That wasn’t just the KBLE teachers, but also some of the FSoD teachers who was afraid in their eyes. 

“Something is wrong,” Iris said, her voice low, “it doesn’t feel right.”

The girls nodded, it was clear that the atmosphere had changed and divided into two. Those who loved seeing Daenia being beat to a pulp, and those who grimaced when they could hear bones crack. 

“I thought she was supposed to be the strongest,“ a deep voice chuckled. The sophomores turned around and saw a fourth year, holding himself with a clear sense of superiority. “I can’t imagine how weak the other students are if she is supposed to be the strongest.” 

Eliana raised her brow, “would you like to say that again.”

“You’re not worth my time.” 

Eliana was about to strike him with a harsh wind when she felt a cool hand on her arm and saw Selene shake her head. 

“Something is wrong,” Atlas said, repeating Iris’ earlier statement, turning around to the girls. “Why isn’t he stopping, he has clearly won.” 

“Why are you asking us?” Eris responded, “He’s your sadistic head boy.”

Atlas shook his head, “he’s not like this. I’ve never seen him this violent.” 

“Well that’s nice, I’m glad that he’s not normally this crazy.” 

The announcer called Benedict the winner, but he still didn’t stop. The atmosphere changed as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the pin to drop. There was a rush of blonde hair and red robes as Matthias and Nina, two training teachers, ran towards Benedict. Nina casted out her arm, sedating Benedict. But that didn’t work right away, so much so that Matthias rugby tackled him off Daenia’s limp body. 

Daenia didn’t get up. It was as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting, willing for her to get up again. Emma and Zeph were gripping each other’s hands, J just staring blankly in front, as if she couldn’t believe what was happening. The sophomores all had looks of horror on their faces, some even had tears falling down their faces. 

“She’s breathing.” Eliana said quickly, almost praying. “She has to be breathing. Why isn’t she getting up?”

“I think he broke something.” Selene whispered. “Maybe her back? He couldn’t stop. He wouldn’t stop.”

The loud, taunting laughter from the opposite side of the field made them look over. “And I thought she was going to be the strong one!” 

That was the cause of the first riots and energised fighting. People started jumping out of their seats, some running onto the battlefield, waiting for others. The teachers all sprang into action, but there were just too many fights. 

“We need to go. Now.” Selene said, tugging on the arms of the girls next to her. It was clear that she was distressed. The girls didn’t argue and stood up and made their way towards the exit, pushing past the small fights. Both verbal and physical. “It’s going to get a lot worse very quickly.”

Scarlet felt a cool hand on her wrist and turned around to see Dorian looking at her. “Stay safe.” 

“You’re not coming?”

Dorian shook his head, “if we all go at once, it will look too suspicious.” 

“Fine.” Scarlet said, not wanting Dorian to drop his hand. However, as he did, she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. “You know where to find us.” 

Artemis pulled Scarlet next to her, walking up the stairs towards the doors. “He knows?”

“Finn doesn’t?”

Normally they would joke about this stuff, but it wasn’t the time, so Artemis nodded. “Let’s go.” 

The sophomores looked at where the freshmen were supposed to be sitting, but they seemed to have already left. They hoped that at least. 

-0-

The juniors currently sat in their common room, tucked under Mr Greenbrair’s desk, silently crying, waiting for the screaming and fighting to stop. Every so often they heard a scream, something breaking, or someone running through the halls. They had managed to sneak out as the seniors and juniors started to physically fight. The elements were being thrown around, weapons were grabbed from the training floor, everything began to escalate past a state that the teachers and freshmen had expected. 

Perhaps we should have expected it, Zeph thought as she brought her knees closer to her chest, to somehow calm her breathing. The girls couldn’t help but jump at every small sound that echoed throughout the hall. But it was the sound of heavy footsteps that caused the girls to huddle together, their breath ragged. The door opened slightly, the creak loud in the hollowed room. The footsteps stopped in front of the desk, and the teacher squatted down.

“Are you girls okay,” Mr Greenbrair’s warm voice asked, his black hair poking down into the desk. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Theodosia popped her head out, tears brimming her eyes, “did we do something wrong?”

“You girls did nothing wrong,” Mr Greenbrair said, his voice soft. “We can take what happened today as a learning curve.”

Zeph shook her head, “we are being trained to kill on spot, to be assassins.”

“What is the problem then?”

“Why is seeing death so difficult?” Lilith asked, her voice small. 

“Because we are teaching you well.” He replied, a warm smile on his face. “No good assassin enjoys killing anyone. That is what makes us different to murderers, we have compassion, we don’t do this because we want to.” 

“I don’t see the difference,” Emma said dryly, trying her best to lighten the mood. 

“Has everything stopped out there?” Lilith asked, but the shakiness in her voice told them that she already knew the answer.

Mr Greenbrair shook his head, “not yet. It seems that a lot of the students from both schools scattered after the attack, so we are trying to find them all. Most of them have been accounted for however. We just want all the girls to get to the great hall.”

The four girls looked at each other, but they didn’t need to say anything. They started to uncurl themselves from under the desk, to where Mr Greenbrair now stood. They walked in silence to the Great Hall, which was dark and gloomy, the only sign of life was the students sat in small groups, whispering to each other in hushed voices. The girls looked around and noticed that something was wrong. 

“Sir,” Emma whispered, tugging on the robe of her home room teacher, Mr Greenbrair. He turned towards her, his face grim and hard, but when he saw his students, his face warmed. It was visible to see how distressed they were, the tear stains on their skin, their eyes puffy and red. “The sophomore girls aren’t here. We want to find them. We may know where they are.” 

“I’m sorry girls, I can’t permit you to do such a thing,” he said softly, hoping that none of the other students or staff heard him. He wouldn’t tell the girls, but fear rose in his chest as his brain went to the worst-case scenario. “You need to tell me where they are, and I and Mr Fahey will find them.” 

The girls looked between each other, Lilith sighed, “we can’t tell you sir. We made a promise to them that we wouldn’t tell. But if we find them, we can bring them right back here.” 

Against his better judgement, Mr Greenbrair agreed. “Fine. But take my phone, if there is any smell of trouble, you ring one of the teachers, their names are clearly labelled in there.” 

“Thank you, Sir,” the girls replied without smiles.

-0-

The sophomore’s walked back to their hideout, completely quiet, all shivering at what they had just seen. They stayed quiet as they huddled together around a small fire, tucked in blankets, when they heard the crunch of leaves. The girls looked up, all their eyes a variation of red. The boys walked into the clearing; their hands tucked deeply into their pockets. They sat opposite them; their features highlighted by the fire. 

It was Atlas who had spoken first, “she died.”

None of the girls replied to that comment. But the tension radiating off them could easily be felt. Eris bit her lip, trying to stop herself from speaking, but she couldn’t. “Why did this happen? Why is it that Benedict … did what he did?” 

The boys stayed quiet, but Finn’s eyes caught Artemis’ pleading ones. “Um, I guess, the way PE lessons are structured is to have you use your basic instincts, for some that is to defend and for others to attack. For those who attack, or fight offensively, it is easier to mould them into perfect fighters.” 

“What about you guys then?” Eliana asked, her voice tight. “Are you all defensive?”

They nodded. “Most are, but to fit in and improve, it is easier to look offensive.”

“But things are changing,” Atlas said, looking over at Selene who sucked in a breath. “Some of the other seniors have been organising secret training sessions with the sole purpose of protecting those around us. I know it sounds contradictory considering we are training to become assassins of some sort, but this stuff is still important to know.”

They were going to continue to speak, but the trees rustled, and four small figures emerged. The sophomores stood up as they saw the younger freshmen, in full fight mode. Eliana stepped between the FSoD boys and the freshmen, her hands raised, “it’s fine, we asked them to come. Everyone will be safe here. Okay.” 

“If you say so.” 

Everyone had changed that day, the images stayed in their minds, whether that was a good thing that was still unknown.


End file.
